Recommended Reading
When I was working as a research scientist at the University of Sheffield I also did some voluntary work for a local charity working with Somali refugees, of whom Sheffield seemed to have quite a number. As part of my work there I had to find out about a person that inspired me and submit a report.
Walking around the university campus one day I noticed a plaque that referred to Hans Krebs and that got me thinking - is this the same guy that all A-level biologists love because of his cycle? I looked into it in the University library and found loads of useful stuff on him. I was quite staggered to find out that Hans Krebs actually came to Sheffield as a refugee, fleeing the Nazis in Germany on account of his Jewish status. While working at Sheffield University he made the discoveries that allowed him to put together perhaps one of the best know biochemical pathways in A-level biology - the TCA/citric acid/Krebs cycle. Oh, and if you think that's all he's tormenting you poor A-level biologists with and you're currently doing the liver, think again. He was also brainy enough to put together the ornithine/urea cycle!
Moral of this story? No matter what you're up against, don't give up - Krebs didn't, and just look at the areas of biochemistry he's helped us to unravel while he was working in a foreign land and, presumably, missing his home like crazy.
So when you're off to university, just get your head down and make some discoveries of your very own.
